By GAUTAM NAIK

Scientists have subjected Albert Einstein's famous theory of gravity to its toughest real-world test so far—and it has prevailed.

The theory, which was published nearly a century ago, had already passed every test it was subjected to. But scientists have been trying to pin down precisely at what point Einstein's theory breaks down, and where an alternative explanation would have to be devised.

Einstein's framework for his theory of gravity, for example, is incompatible with quantum theory, which explains how nature works at an atomic and subatomic level.

Consider that for a black hole, Einstein's theory "predicts infinitely strong gravitational fields and density. That's nonsensical," said Paulo Freire, an astrophysicist at the Max Planck Institute for Radioastronomy in Germany and co-author of the study, which appears in the journal Science.

And so scientists are testing the general theory not because they think it is wrong but because they are certain it can't be the final explanation—just as Isaac Newton's notion of gravitational force was superseded by Einstein's.

Einstein's general theory of relativity states that objects with mass cause a curvature in space-time, which we perceive as gravity. Space-time, according to Einstein's theories of relativity, is a four-dimensional fabric woven together by space and time.

For example, a bowling ball causes a dent in a mattress, and that dent changes the otherwise straight motion of a nearby marble on the same mattress. Similarly, the mass of the sun distorts the space-time around it. A body with less mass, like Earth, travels along one path in that distorted space, which we call its orbit.

Dr. Freire and his colleagues put Einstein to the test in a cosmic laboratory 7,000 light years from earth, where two exotic stars are circling each other. One, known as a white dwarf, is the cooling remnant of a much lighter star. Its companion is a pulsar, which spins 25 times every second. Though the pulsar is just 12 miles across, it weighs twice as much as the sun.

"When you have such a big mass in such a small space you have extremely high gravity," said Charles Wang, a theoretical physicist at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, who wasn't involved in the study.

The gravity on the pulsar's surface is 300 billion times as great as the gravity on Earth. The conditions there approach the relentless, overwhelming power of a black hole, which swallows even light.

"We're testing Einstein's theory in a region where it has never been tested before," said Dr. Freire.

The pulsar and white dwarf pair emit gravitational waves and the binary star system gradually loses energy. As a result, the stars will move closer to each other and orbit faster. Einstein's theory suggests the stars' orbital periods—the time they take to go around each other—ought to shrink by about eight-millionths of a second per year.

Dr. Freire's and his colleagues used several telescopes to take precise measurements of the two-star system. Their results perfectly matched the Einstein-based prediction.

Though Einstein's framework remains intact so far, "the study is significant for the way observations by astronomers are helping to identify new, extreme cases" to test his general theory of gravity, said Dr. Wang.

Einstein's theory was first—and dramatically—confirmed during a solar eclipse within four years of its publication, making him an instant celebrity. When asked how he would have felt if he had been proven wrong, Einstein replied: "I would have felt sorry for the Lord. The theory is correct."

At very small distances, Einstein's equations have terms where you divide by the separation distance, which is zero for all practical purposes. Dividing by zero give an answer of infinity or nonsense.
This condition is why you can't get real answers to physics problems at the center (singularity) of a black hole.

At those same very small distances, reality is governed by probability, not Einsteinien math. Einstein's Special Relativity allows for a transition between large and small which also works well.

However, the reality is that we don't know what is happening at the center of a black hole. It may be forces and events of which we have never seen and are totally unaware.

That type of pressure and heat(?), no telling whats happening... maybe a point where there is no space between the atoms?

Actually it goes far beyond that. At far less gravity than that required to make a black hole, neutron stars are formed. The atoms have collapsed and the electrons have been squeezed onto the protons to make more neutrons to the point where there is nothing but neutrons. They are all laying there touching each other! A sugar cube size chunk weighs the same as Mount Everest!

In a black hole the neutrons are crushed again to be a point of no size. But the conditions there are such that time and space don't really mean the same thing anymore.

I will never say Einstein is wrong but i'm wondering how the 4 billion light year across LQG discovered earlier this year and the 1.2 billion light year across cosmological principle will play out?

To be continued.

The Huge-LQG is estimated to be approximately 1240 megaparsecs (4 billion light-years) in its longest dimension, by 640 Mpc and 370 Mpc in the others[4] and is the largest known structure in the universe. It has a mass of \begin{smallmatrix}6.1\times10^{18} M_\odot\end{smallmatrix} (solar masses). The Huge-LQG was initially named U1.27 due to its average redshift of 1.27, and is located in the sky in the constellation of Leo.[5]

The Huge-LQG is 615Mpc from the Clowes-Campusano LQG (U1.28), a group of 34 quasars discovered in 1991.
Cosmological Principle
Main article: Cosmological Principle

The cosmological principle implies that at a sufficiently large scale, the universe is homogeneous; different places will appear similar to one another. Whilst Yadav et al have suggested a maximum scale of 260/h Mpc for structures within the universe according to this heuristic, other authors have suggested values as low as 60/h Mpc.[6] Yadav's calculation suggests that the maximum size of a structure can be about 370Mpc[3]

The Sloan Great Wall, discovered in 2003, has a length of 423Mpc,[7] which is only just consistent with the cosmological principle.

The Huge-LQG is three times longer than, and twice as wide as is predicted possible according to these current models, and so challenges our understanding of the universe on large scales.[3]

This structure has little to do with Einstein.

Seems like a lot of "stuff" to come from nothing... just saying

Well i do have quite a bit of knowledge in astrophysics and you're trying to make like i'm clueless.Einstiens cosmological principle and the LQG that was discovered earlier this year don't match up,period.Anyone with knowledge in astrophysics will admit this.
If you truly look at models of galaxy clusters and the distribution of matter throughout the universe it really doesn't support the "homogeneous and the isometric crap people keep getting spoon fed all the time.
The radial vector[r] has matter scattered all over the place in the universe in clusters.Just one slipped by observers that questions the integrity of the cosmological principle.